Thursday, March 31, 2011

﻿Epi bread is a type of artisan bread which is often made at French-style bakeries. The bread is a popular picnicking bread, since it consists of a series of yeast rolls which are interconnected to look like a stalk of wheat. As diners need chunks of bread, they call pull rolls off without making a mess of the loaf.

Heat the oil over medium heat and add the onions, celery, and green pepper. Stir and cook until softened. Add the chili powder and stir until combined. Add tomatoes and stir until combined. Add the broth, water, bay leaf, oregano, Tabasco, basil, and thyme. Bring to a boil.

Add the rice reduce heat and simmer until rice is cooked. Thicken and darken gumbo with a Cajun roux (flour and oil cooked until darkened). Add okra and simmer until it is tender. Discard bay leaf and add Gumbo file’. Do not boil once this is added. Makes 5 cups.

Appetizer and side Recipes

Baked Plantains

4 plantains (skin black)

Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make a slit in plantains and bake until fork tender.

Squeeze lemon over plantains and serve. Garnish with additional wedges.

Grilled Romaine with Balsamic reduction

8 Romaine leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon shallots minced

1 clove garlic minced

1 cup balsamic vinegar

Coat romaine leaves with oil, salt and pepper. Grill until you have nice grill marks on each side.

Add shallots and garlic to a pan over medium heat and sweat. Deglaze with vinegar and reduce until syrupy. Makes 2 servings.

Add mashed banana and corn mix in bowl until combined. In another bowl combine dry ingredients.

Combine the wet into the dry and stir until combined.

Heat the oil and drop the batter in oil 2 tablespoons at a time. Cook latkes until golden brown. Makes 12 3inch latkes.

Tofu garlic sauce

1 cup silken tofu

6 tablespoons roasted garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Blend tofu and garlic in a blender. Heat to order salt and pepper to taste.

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 cups shredded red cabbage

3 cups sliced apple

1 cup sliced onion

3 tablespoons flour

½ cup apple juice

3 cups vegetable stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil over medium heat and add red cabbage, apple, and onion. Sweat until onion is transparent. Add flour to mixture. Add juice and stock. Cook until vegetables are tender. Use braising liquid as glaze for vegetables.

Strudel Bites

6 phyllo sheets (12x17 inches each)

2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons unflavored bread crumbs

1 recipe of desired filling

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Lay out one phllyo sheet at a time. Brush each layer with oil and sprinkle with bread crumbs. After layers are complete fold and make a book. Spoon 1/3 of the filling parallel to the folded border in the form of a log. Fold the folded edge over the filling and repeat the process until you have one solid log. Cut slits in strudel just enough to see the filling. Brush strudel top with remaining oil and bake until golden brown.

Fillings: Savory, see dessert for sweet fillings

Spinach and mushroom filling

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1½ cups chopped mushrooms

½ cup chopped onions

1 clove garlic minced

10 ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon dried savory

1/8 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 cup cooked cannellini beans

1. Over medium heat add oil. Add the mushrooms, onions, and garlic, cook until soft. Remove from heat stir in spinach, spices, and dried herbs. Add the beans and mash slightly with the back of a spoon.

Vegetable-potato filling

2 cups cubed, peeled potatoes

3 tablespoons vegetable stock

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup chopped cabbage

½ cup chopped onions

1/3 cup shredded carrots

1/3 cup shredded rutabaga

1 clove garlic minced

1. In a 1 quart saucepan cook the potatoes with enough water to cover. Cook until fork tender and drain. Add stock, salt, and pepper. Mash until smooth.

2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add cabbage, onions, carrots, rutabaga, and garlic. Cook until tender then fold in to potatoes.

Samosas

Dough:

¾ cup AP flour

½ cup whole what flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vegetable

1/3 cup warm water

Filling:

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

½ cup chopped onions

3 cloves garlic minced

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1½ curry powder

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

½ cup water

1 cup diced potatoes

½ cup peas

1½ chopped fresh cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste

For the dough, put the flours and salt in a food processor. Add vegetable oil through chute with motor running. Add as much of the warm water as necessary for the dough to form in to a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a pan. Add onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook until onions are transparent. Stir in curry powder, turmeric, cumin, and ground red pepper until absorbed. Add ½ cup water and bring to boil add potatoes and peas. Cook until vegetables are tender.

Form dough into thin circles. Fill with filling and close into half moons. Fry in oil until golden brown all around.

Corn Fritters

1 cup cornmeal

¾ cup AP flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of nutmeg

½ mashed ripe banana

½ cup soy milk

6 ounce can corn (reserve ¼ cup liquid)

1 tablespoon chopped onion

Oil for deep frying

In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients. In another bowl, add ripe banana and the rest of the wet ingredients. Add the liquid to the dry stir until smooth. Add corn and onion. Fry until golden brown.

Vegan Naan Bread

1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons beet sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons silken tofu

3 teaspoons onion seeds

1. Combine yeast and water, let sit until it becomes active. Add sugar and flour. Add salt and start to combine into dough. While mixing slowly add oil, tofu, and onion seeds. Let dough sit and ferment until it doubles in volume. Punch dough and separate into equal portioned dough balls. Let rest on bench for 15 minutes and flatten balls. Bake flat bread on a sheet pan at 425 until golden brown.

Peach butter

4 cups peeled peach chunks

1/3 cup beet sugar

¼ cup water

Lemon juice to taste

Place peaches and sugar in a saucepot and bring to boil. Add water if necessary. Reduce until mixture is thick enough to make a path on bottom of pan with a spoon. Add lemon juice and chill mixture.

For Polenta bring stock to a boil in a pot and slowly add cornmeal while whisking. Cook over medium heat until graininess is out. Serve Vegetable Sauce over Polenta.

Fried Zucchini with Risotto alla Milanese

2 whole zucchini peeled and seeded

3 table spoons olive oil

Bread crumbs

2 ½ cups vegetable stock

1 cup water

1/3 cup Marsala

Pinch saffron

2 tablespoons margarine

1/3 cup finely chopped onions

1 cup Arborio Rice

1. Cut the Zucchini into strips. Coat the strips in olive oil and cover in bread crumbs. Use remaining oil to pan fry the Zucchini and reserve for later.

2. Combine liquids in a saucepot and simmer with pinch of saffron. Over medium heat melt margarine and sweat onion. Add rice and saute’. Gradually add liquid to the rice stirring after each addition. Keep doing this until rice is cooked and creamy. Serve Zucchini over the risotto.

Wildly Stuffed Peppers

2 large green peppers

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic minced

1 ½ cups wild mixed mushrooms

1 tablespoon flour

¾ cup vegetable stock

1 ½ cups cooked wild rice

1 cup cooked orzo

¼ cup chopped parsley

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Hollow out green peppers and blanch and shock them. Heat oil and sweat onion and garlic. Add mushrooms and cook until softened. Singer with the flour and add the stock. Add the rice and pasta to the mixture along with the parsley and thyme. Stuff the peppers with the mixture and heat in the oven until peppers are softened at 350 degrees.

Heat the oil over medium heat and sweat the onions and celery. Add stock and the barley bring to a boil and simmer. Add the carrots and the spinach. When barley is cooked and vegetables are tender you may serve.

Lentil “Pass on the Meat” Loaf

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup chopped mushrooms

½ cup chopped onions

1 cup cooked lentils

1 tablespoon soy sauce

½ cup cooked barley

1/3 cup chopped pecans

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil over medium heat and sweat the mushroom and onions. Transfer to a bowl. Add the lentils and barley to the bowl. Add the soy sauce, pecans, and bread crumbs. Mix ingredients together and shape into a loaf. Brown the loaf on both sides in the pan.

Spasta

1 large spaghetti squash

2 tablespoons pine nuts

1 recipe Pesto vegetables

3 cups marinara sauce

1. bake the Squash at 350 until soft. Cut in half and with zester make long strands with the squash. This is your spasta. Top it with marinara sauce, pesto vegetables and pine nuts.

1. Combine the flours to the water and make a dough and work in chopped spinach and oil. When the dough is smooth let rest for 10 minutes. Roll in to sheets with a rolling pin. Cook sheets in salted boiling water until soft.

1. Mix the cornstarch, soy milk, sugar and salt until smooth. Heat on medium heat until pudding is formed. Remove from heat stir in coconut and rice.

Whipped Banana Tart

Soy Milk 3.5 ounces

5 tablespoons beet sugar

3 teaspoons cornstarch

Vanilla extract to taste

5 oz oil

3 ripe bananas

1. In a blender combine soy milk, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. Blend until smooth. Gradually add oil blending after each addition. Add to bowl with 3 ripe bananas and mix.

Dough:

1 ¼ cups AP flour

¾ cup wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup margarine

¼ cup shortening

4 to 5 tablespoons ice cold water

1. Combine flours in food processor with salt and pulse adding margarine and shortening. When the mixture is coarse removed and slowly add ice water while kneading dough.

Bake off in tart shells and add Banana Mixture and chill in refrigerator.

Apple Walnut Pie

Dough from banana tart baked into pie shell

Filling:

1 tablespoon Margarine

3 Cups Granny Smith apples

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

½ cup beet sugar

1 cup chopped walnuts

Heat Margarine over medium heat. Add apples, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cook down until apples are softened any syrup is formed. Add mixture to pie shell and top with more dough bake until dough is golden brown.

Poached Pear in Fruit juice

One pear peeled and halved

½ cup apple juice

½ cup pear juice

1 tablespoon beet sugar

3 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Poach pear in fruit juices and sugar. When softened remove. Make a slurry with the cornstarch and thicken poaching liquid and pour over pear.

Poached Peach Melba

1 peach blanched, peeled, and halved

1 cup raspberries

½ cup beet sugar

3 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Cook raspberries down with sugar until softened and syrup is formed. Puree’ sauce in a blender. Make a slurry with the cornstarch and thicken sauce over medium heat. Pour over Peach and serve.